The East Texas football players who appeared on the cover of The Zone, a pre-season magazine by the Tyler Morning Telegraph and the Longview News-Journal traded jerseys to end their high school careers after the 13th Annual Under Armour All-America Football game on Thursday in Orlando, Florida.
John Tyler’s Kitan Crawford and Longview’s Haynes King were both in the starting lineup Thursday and on the same team, coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed. Team Savage lost to Team Pressure, coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, 30-24, at Camping World Stadium.
Crawford, who has signed with Texas, started at safety, while King, who signed with Texas A&M, started at quarterback. Crawford also played cornerback.
King is headed to College Station to join Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M Aggies. King, a consensus 4-star recruit, picked Texas A&M over Tennessee, Auburn and Duke. King took over at quarterback for the Lobos midway through his sophomore season and went 26-1 at the helm. He guided Longview to its first state championship in 81 years in 2018 that ended with a 16-0 season and the Class 6A, Division II state championship.
In his Longview career, King is 313-of-513 for 5,835 yards with 66 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has 806 rushing yards with 10 scores and two catches for 60 yards.
Crawford committed to the University of Texas, picking the Longhorns over Tennessee and Oklahoma. He also had offers from Arkansas, Houston, Baylor, Nebraska, Colorado Illinois, Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and TCU, among others.
Crawford is rated as a four-star recruit and won the 40-yard dash competition in 4.4 seconds at the Nike/Dallas Cowboys 11-On competition in Frisco.
In addition to being one of the best corners in the nation, on offense he ran for close to 2,000 yards in three seasons and had 14 touchdowns.
Crawford’s senior year saw the standout rush for 1,065 and 12 TDs on 120 carries. He caught 21 passes for 287 yards and a TD. Defensively, he had 36 total tackles, three interceptions, a blocked field goal attempt, a fumble recovery and broke up five pass attempts.